Riviera Maya, Q.R. — The Secretary of Tourism has revealed the future possibility of rapid Covid-19 testing for massive events. The announcement came a day after governor Carols Joaquin said that rapid Covid tests had been acquired from the Abbot Foundation in the United States, “which will allow us to make better decisions.”
Tourism secretary Marisol Vanegas did not rule out the use of the tests for the performance of sports, cultural and musical events, which would serve to guarantee the safety of those attending. After the announcement by the Ministry of Tourism to apply rapid screening tests for Covid 19 as a requirement to authorize massive events, the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) issued the recommendation not to use this method.
Refugio Romero Guerrero from IMSS Quintana Roo said that the institution does not resort to serologic tests as provided by the Ministry of Health because they do not provide reliable results, adding that confirmed case are people who meet the operational definition of a suspected case and who have a diagnosis confirmed by the National Network of Public Health Laboratories recognized by InDRE.
She says rapid tests are not considered a diagnostic method since they do not provide a diagnostic certainty based on the scientific evidence available at the time.